Trust
by E. Limberg
Summary: Trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair. Jack, Kate, and Sawyer learn this the hard way. Starts during SOS when Jack and Kate are caught in the net.
1. Chapter 1

"When you make the shot," Kate says, watching him squint as he aims at the rope that is holding them aloft in the net.

He squeezes the trigger, and the rope breaks. In the split second of them falling to the ground, Jack twists to his left in an attempt not to land right on top of her. They land on their sides on the ground of the forest with a thump, and there is an unmistakable sound of something snapping, followed immediately by a yelp of pain from Kate.

Jack freezes for a moment and then realizes that her right arm is underneath him, having been wrapped around him after her own failed attempt at shooting the rope. "I'm so sorry," he apologizes as he moves off of her as best he can with the net still around them.

She pulls her knees up to her chest, her bottom lip between her teeth to keep from crying out in pain again and the color draining from her face. The doctor extricates himself from the net as quickly as possible and opens it up so that it is lying flat under her.

"Kate…" he touches the shoulder of her uninjured arm. "I need to examine it."

She inhales sharply before answering, "It's broken. You heard it too, Jack."

He studies her face, not sure how to comfort her when there is no way he can deny this even without examining her. She closes her eyes and gives a small nod, granting him permission to touch her. As gently as he can, he brushes his fingers against her wrist and slowly moves up to her elbow, glancing at her face every few seconds to make sure he is not making the pain worse.

"Can you sit up?" he asks. She slowly rolls onto her back as best she can with a backpack on and then sits up, careful to move her arm as little as possible. Now that her forearm is not pressed against the ground, he runs his hand along the outside of it, finding a particularly sensitive spot midway up. "Well, the good news is that it is not so broken that your bone its sticking through the skin," he says, bending her arm inward as gently as possible so that it is resting against her stomach.

"And the bad news is that there is nothing to make a cast with," she sighs.

"Let's head back to the hatch. There's got to be something there that I can at least stabilize it with," he offers her a hand and pulls her up. She sways slightly, the pain making her dizzy, and he places his hands on her shoulders to steady her. "You okay?"

"Yeah… we've only been hiking for what, an hour, right? I can make it," she insists.

"Let me take your pack," he steps around her and pulls the strap from her good arm, then carefully draws the pack from her injured arm. He takes a water bottle from her pack and holds it out, but she shakes her head. "Let me know when you need it," he says as he puts her backpack inside of his own.

She starts walking, gritting her teeth to keep from crying out as her arm gets jostled on their hike back. They walk in silence for almost half an hour before she stops and leans back against a tree, her left hand shaking as she reaches up to brush her hair from her face.

He opens their backpacks to get the water again, and her hand trembles as she reaches for the bottle. "You okay, Kate?"

"Fine," she says, frowning at the water bottle as she realizes she can't open it. She sighs and shoves the bottle back at him, "Not thirsty."

"You need to drink something," he calls out as she takes off again. As he rushes after her, he sees her stumble over a tree root, barely catching up to her in time to grab her good arm and keep her from falling.

"I just need a break," she avoids his gaze, finding another tree to lean against and sliding down to sit.

Jack crouches down in front of her, and when she finally looks up at him, he finds that it takes her a while to focus on him. "I can't imagine how much pain you must be in."

She closes her eyes, and after a long moment, finally admits, "It's making my head spin."

The doctor looks away from her, "You know that time you drugged me because I wasn't taking care of myself?"

Her eyes open, and he can clearly see the confusion on her face, "Yeah…"

"Don't hate me, Kate," he wraps one arm around her back and the other under her legs before lifting her up.

"Jack," she protests, trying to squirm out of his grip. When she jostles her arm in the process, she whimpers as another wave of pain hits and settles against his chest.

"Just relax," he says as he starts off toward the hatch again. Not five minutes into their journey, he feels her go limp against him as she succumbs to the pain, and he hastens his pace, though he is not sure that he will be able to do much more for her once they reach the hatch.

Twenty minutes later he steps through the door. He walks right past Sawyer reading on the couch in the living room area and into the kitchen, where he sets her down on the table.

Sawyer, who was on button duty, follows him, "What the hell happened to her, Doc?"

"Kate," he calls softly as he touches her cheek.

She slowly blinks her eyes open, moving her arms as she wakes and crying out in pain as she realizes her mistake.

"What happened?" Sawyer asks again.

Jack examines her forearm and finds that it has started to swell and there is a bruise clearly forming around the fracture. He steps past Sawyer and heads to the sink, "Broken arm."

"The Others?"

"No. We got caught in one of Rousseau's nets. I shot the rope holding us up. Her arm broke when we fell," he fills a towel with cold water, wringing it out before stepping back over to Kate. He tries to wrap it around her arm as gently as possible, but she winces and groans in pain as the slightest movement. "I know it hurts, Kate. But I'm going to have to try to set it. And unfortunately it's not going to be pleasant."

"Can't you give her some pain meds?" Sawyer frowns at the doctor for making her suffer.

"What pain meds? They're all gone, Sawyer. And the Tylenol that I did have wouldn't have touched her pain."

The Southerner sits down on the bench and takes her good hand in his. She squeezes his hand as Jack continues to manipulate her arm. After almost a full minute, Sawyer says, "The heroin."

"What?" Jack stops working and looks at him.

"The heroin. It's related to those painkillers you use in the hospital, right? Could it help her?"

"I'm fine," she weakly protests, her eyes still closed against the pain.

The two men step away from the table. "It's risky, Sawyer. It could be laced with other drugs. And I have no idea how much to give her, and too much could be fatal," Jack says softly.

"Well, I know someone who might be able to help," the blonde man says before he heads out of the hatch and down to the beach to get his stash.

Jack has not had much success in easing her pain or finding something to stabilize her arm with when Charlie comes running into the hatch twenty minutes later. "Sawyer said Kate's hurt," he pants, three Virgin Mary figurines in his hands.

"Yeah, her arm's broken."

"You're really going to give her heroin?" Charlie asks, looking over at Kate.

"We have no other pain medications left, Charlie."

He nods and hands over the statues, "Well, here you go."

Jack breaks one of them on the counter and a bag of light brown power comes out. He picks it up and studies it for a minute, wondering if he can really bring himself to do this.

"I, uh… I think I ought to go."

"I need your help, Charlie. I don't know how to inject it."

"My help? I just snort it, Jack."

"You're my best chance of doing this and not killing her," Jack stares at the younger man.

The singer sighs, "Okay, I might know how people inject it. But I've never done it before."

As the British man starts rummaging through the drawers for the supplies that they will need, the doctor asks, "Where did Sawyer go?"

"I don't know. Just mumbled something about bamboo and took off into the woods after insisting that I bring the drugs to you," he says as he pours a small amount of heroin out of the bag and onto a spoon. Then he adds some water to the powder and heads to the stove to heat the mixture up with the burner. "You got a syringe?"

Jack pulls one out of the cabinet where he has stored the medical supplies. Once the powder is dissolved, he draws some of the liquid up into the syringe. "How much do I give?"

"I've really got no clue, mate."

Jack looks over at the woman on the table, "I'm going to need you to watch her breathing."

"You want me to stare at her chest?" Charlie frowns. "Man, Sawyer's gonna be mad he missed this."

"Just watch her breathing, let me know if it slows down or if she stops breathing. Can you do that?" At the younger man's nod, he steps over to the table. "Kate?" he places his hand on her cheek and her eyes open slowly, taking a moment to focus on him. "I'm going to give you something for the pain. You let me know if it makes you feel weird, okay?"

"It's supposed to make you feel weird, Jack," Charlie states as he sits down at the table to watch her.

Jack moves around to her other side, twisting her good arm around so that he can find a vein at the inside of her elbow. He hesitates for a moment, trying not to imagine the consequences if he messes this up, and the alarm for the button sounds, making all of them flinch.

"I got it," Sawyer calls as he comes back in, setting a couple bamboo rods down and heading to the computer.

Jack takes a deep breath as he turns his focus back to his patient and then plunges the needle into her vein. He slowly pushes a quarter of a milliliter inside of her body and then pulls the needle out. "Keep a close eye on her," he says, stepping away for a moment to put the needle down and contemplate how he wants to immobilize her arm now that she is hopefully sedated.

The beeping stops, and Sawyer comes back into the room. "I had an idea, Doc. The island doesn't exactly have the supplies you need in order to make a proper cast, right?"

"No, and even if it did, I don't really know how to make a cast."

"Well, what if we wrap her arm in bamboo. We can tie it together like we did for the raft. She won't be able to move it, and it should heal okay, right?"

Jack studies the pieces of bamboo for a couple moments. "That's actually a pretty good idea, Sawyer."

"I ain't doing this for you, Doc. Now, how big do you need the pieces?"

They approach the table with one of the bamboo sticks. Jack notes that she is still breathing steadily, if a little slower than before, and her eyes are closed, the pained expression no longer on her face. "I think they need to go from the middle of her palm up to just past her elbow. Maybe make a couple shorter pieces for those that will be where her thumb sticks out."

"You got it."

"I'm going to try to make sure the bone is aligned as best a possible and wrap it up so that her wrist is about the same width all along her arm. If it isn't, we're not going to be able to tie it tight enough or she'll be able to move it within the makeshift cast."

"Alright then," Sawyer says, setting to work on cutting the bamboo down.

Jack soaks a couple more wash clothes and small towels in cold water and then returns to Kate's side. He carefully lifts her arm up to remove the towel that he had previously wrapped around it; when her eyes remain closed and she gives no indicator of pain, his eyes move to her chest, watching it rise and fall slowly to assure himself that she is still alive and that the heroin had worked.

"She's still breathing, Jack," Charlie assures him. "Can I help with anything?"

"Yeah, see if you can find anything around here to pin the cloth together. I don't want it moving around on her arm under the bamboo cast," the doctor requests as he beings wrapping her arm back up. Charlie finds some safety pins in one of the drawers and within fifteen minutes they have her arm wrapped tightly in the towels and the circumference around her arm relatively even along her forearm.

Sawyer is just finishing tying the bamboo sticks together. "Here you go, Doc," he says as he hands it over.

Jack positions it around her arm. "Can you take one of these rods off? It's a little too big," he asks.

The blonde loosens the knots holding the last rod on, "This actually gonna work, Jack?"

"It's not ideal, but we've got nothing better," he says, tightening the makeshift cast around her arm and tying the two ends together to keep it in place.

"Freckles ain't going to be happy about this when she wakes up."

Jack nods in agreement, "No, she isn't. But this is the best chance of getting her arm to heal normally."

"Well… glad I could help, mates. But if that's all, I told Claire I could watch Aaron for a while this afternoon so I better get going," Charlie says before heading to the door.

The other two men remain silent, both watching the sleeping woman in front of them. Finally, Sawyer says, "We should move her. Never know who will come in here, and she wouldn't want everyone seeing her like this." Before Jack can protest, he has stepped forward and put one hand under her back and the other under her knees. "You want to get her arm, Doc? We can put her in one of the bunks."

Once they have settled her on the lower bunk, Sawyer steps back from the bed. "Think I'm gonna go back to the beach. Don't know that I want to be around when she wakes up and finds out her arm is really broken."

"Thanks, Sawyer," Jack gives the other man a small smile.

"Like I said, I didn't do it for you. Plus it seems to me like the whole situation is your fault," he shrugs. "So now that she's going to hate you, maybe I've got a shot."

Jack stares after Sawyer for a long time, wishing that he could leave too. She really is going to hate him because this is all his fault - he had asked her to go on the hike with him, he had shot the rope that dropped them from the tree, and he had landed on her arm when they fell. He scrapes a hand down his face as he takes a seat beside the bed to watch her. "I'm sorry, Kate," he whispers, closing his eyes and hoping that he won't lose her for good.

~Lost~

"Jack," a soft voice calls, and he slowly blinks his eyes open to find her wide awake and staring at him.

"Are you in pain?" he asks.

She shakes her head slowly, "There's a dull throbbing in my arm, but it's not the same pain that it was earlier."

"If it hurts too much, let me know. I can give you more medicine," he offers, trying to avoid mentioning exactly what that medicine was.

"I know you used the heroin on me, Jack."

He lets out a sigh, "I just couldn't stand to see you in so much pain."

"I don't want any more of it. Please, Jack."

"Okay, no more heroin," he agrees, somewhat relieved that he doesn't have to worry about overdosing her again.

"My arm feels like it weighs a ton," she lifts it a couple inches off the mattress and then lowers it again.

"You'll get used to it after a while." He briefly thinks about throwing Sawyer under the bus and telling her that bamboo cast was his idea but ultimately decides that he deserves all the blame for her situation. "I'm so sorry about this, Kate."

"Not your fault," she tells him as she struggles to sit up without using her arm. She then stares down at the awkward way her arm is positioned since she can't bend it at all with the cast on, "How long do I have to wear this?"

"Couple months maybe."

"Great," she sighs in frustration.

"Whatever I can do to help you, Kate… just let me know. And I'm sure Sawyer would be willing to help too since you took care of him when he was shot. And Sun and Claire will help with the more personal things."

"So now I'm pretty much dependent on everyone else," she runs her good hand over her face.

"You act like that is the worst thing in the world."

"I've been on my own for over three years, Jack - it kind of is the worst thing."

He looks down at the floor, studying his shoes for a moment, then reaches out to place his good hand on hers, "You don't have to be on your own anymore, Kate."

She looks down at their hands, a slight frown on her face, "Jack…"

The alarm goes off, and neither one of them moves for almost a full minute. Finally Jack gets up to enter the numbers, and when he turns back from the computer, he finds that she has followed him out of the bedroom area.

"I, uh… I'm going to head back to the beach."

He hands her a bottle of water from the kitchen counter, "You should drink something first."

"You do realize I can't open this , right?" she says, not looking at him again.

He twists the top off for her and watches as she drinks half the bottle. "You hungry?"

"Not really," she sets the water bottle down and grabs her backpack from the ground, slinging it over her good shoulder.

"Let me walk you to the beach. It's getting dark out," he starts to follow her.

"I'll be fine. And if anyone tries to attack me on the walk back, I will just knock them out," she lifts up the cast slightly.

He sighs, "Kate, if I come down to the beach tomorrow and find that you've taken that off -"

"I'm not an idiot, Jack," she steps around him and out of the door to the hatch.


	2. Chapter 2

"Damn it."

Sawyer stops walking as he passes her tent and hears her yell in frustration. "Something I can help you with, Freckles?" he asks, pushing the tarp of her tent aside to step in. He stops halfway inside when he finds her trying to pull a pair of jeans on with only one hand.

"Sawyer!"

He stares at her bare legs for a moment before he seems to realize what he is doing, "Sorry, Freckles. Just thought you could use some help. But I'll just go now."

She sighs, "You might as well help now that you've seen me half dressed."

"It's not like I ain't seen you without pants on before," he says, stepping forward to grab her jeans. She had only succeeded in getting one leg in, and as he holds the pants open for her, she places a hand on his shoulder to steady herself while she puts her other foot in. "Unless you need help changing your shirt too," he says, smirking up at her.

She rolls her eyes, "No, I will ask Claire or Sun to help me with that."

"Everyone else was still asleep so unless you woke the entire camp with your yelling, you're outta luck," he says, pulling the pants up her legs and over her hips. He is careful not to let his fingers brush against her stomach as he buttons them up.

When he stands back up, they stare at each other for a long minute. Finally he sighs and turns his face away, "Where's the shirt that you want to put on?"

"Sawyer -" she starts to protest.

"Just get it out and turn around. I promise I won't look."

She gives him a shy look, "I kind of need to change my bra too."

His eyes dart down quickly to look at her chest in the tank top she is currently wearing before he meets her eyes again, "I can be a gentleman."

After another few seconds of hesitation, Kate pulls a clean bra and light blue t-shirt out of her stack of clothes and hands them to him. Then she turns around, facing away from him.

"Hold your arms up," he requests, grabbing the hem of her shirt when she complies and pulling it up and over her head. He tosses it onto her makeshift bed and then undoes the clasps of her bra, which she carefully removes. As he hands the new bra to her, he says, "You could just not wear one of these, you know?"

"Not happening," she says, pulling the strap up over the cast and then snaking her good arm through the other strap.

Sawyer grabs both ends and does the clasps to hold it in place. He gives her a second to adjust the front before asking her to put her hands up again, guiding her cast through the armhole of the t-shirt as she gets her good arm and head inside. "Told you I could be good," he says as she turns around, pulling her hair out from the collar of the shirt.

"Thanks, Sawyer."

"Sure, Freckles, I'm happy to undress you anytime. Though I'd prefer it if the clothes stayed off," he smirks at her. She ignores him, stepping around him to exit the tent. "Guess I'll see you around," the Southerner follows her out and heads back towards his own tent.

Jack stops in his tracks, just on the edge of the beach and the forest, when he sees Sawyer and Kate exit her tent, and he can't help but notice that she has different clothes on this morning. He knows that she had a right to be mad with him since he broke her arm, but had she really moved on to Sawyer already? He almost turns around, not wanting to confirm his suspicions, but when the other man leaves, he finds himself moving towards her again, unable to resist his connection to her.

"Morning," he calls as he approaches.

She is unable to hide the surprised expression that crosses her face at his sudden appearance. "Hey."

"Brought you some food," he says, pulling a granola bar, banana, and orange out of his bag for her. "And you can't tell me that you're not hungry, Kate. You haven't eaten since before we left yesterday afternoon."

She accepts the banana, then bites her lip and hands it back to him when she realizes she can't open it.

"Kate," he starts to protest.

"Can you please open it?" she asks quietly.

He takes it back and pulls back the peel halfway for her, "Sorry."

She takes a bite as she walks further down the beach until her feet are in the water. Jack makes his round through the camp, allowing her some space to deal with the fact that she is going to have to ask others for help.

As she finishes the banana, Jack comes up beside her. "You want to sit down?"

She shakes her head. "It's too awkward to sit with this thing. Am I really not going to be able to bend my elbow for two months?"

"Depends. If you seem to be healing okay after a few weeks, maybe we can shorten the cast a little so you can bend your arm. But bending your arm can shift the bones in your forearm, and I don't want the pieces to get misaligned while you're still healing," he tells her as he starts peeling the orange. She gives him a small smile of appreciation for not making her ask. "So I see you managed to change clothes."

"I, uh… had a little help. Or a lot of help." He hands her a couple pieces of the orange. Before she puts one in her mouth, she says, "Sawyer helped me actually."

Jack tries to keep his face neutral at that comment, "Oh."

She shrugs, looking out at the ocean, "He offered. And he surprisingly wasn't as much of a jerk about it as I expected."

"You don't have to be uncomfortable, Kate. If you just asked one of the other women to help you, I'm sure they would."

"I thought I could at least change my pants on my own. Got the other pair off with no problems. So it would have been more embarrassing to have to walk around camp without pants on in order to find someone else to help me than just letting Sawyer do it."

He hands over more slices of orange and wishes that he had left the hatch earlier, that he had gotten there before Sawyer and been the one to help her. "So what are your plans for today?"

"There's really not much I can do, is there, Jack?" she retorts, popping another piece of orange into her mouth. "So I guess I will just sit on the beach for the next two months and work on my tan."

He laughs, "I doubt you will even make it through sun tanning today before you are bored out of your mind. And if you do succeed, you will have some pretty funny tan lines at the end of your two months."

She sighs, "Suppose I could be on button duty for two months. Only takes one hand to type the numbers in."

"No, I don't want you anywhere near the hatch while Henry is still there."

"You don't trust me?" she frowns.

"It's not you that I don't trust. It's him."

"You didn't tell me that you were holding someone hostage in the hatch," she points out.

"Locke and Sayid wanted as few people to know as possible. But I should've told you."

Kate doesn't respond, instead turning away from the ocean and heading back up the beach to her tent.

Jack follows, catching up to her just as she reaches the tent and reaching out for her shoulder, "Hey, wait a minute."

"What is it, Jack?"

"I, uh… I'm going back out there. To the line. Since we got caught up on the way yesterday."

"And you want me to come with you? No thanks, Jack. I don't really feel like breaking my other arm today."

"Sayid is coming with me. I just… wanted you to know that I am going to be gone today."

"Be careful, Jack," she tosses over her shoulder before going inside the tent.

He sighs and turns his face up towards the sky, frustrated with her for her attitude this morning and frustrated with himself for not just telling her how he feels. After a few minutes, he takes off back towards the trees, passing Sawyer on the way. He stops, hesitates for a second, then turns back to face the other man. "Sawyer… thanks for taking care of her this morning."

"Don't worry, Doc. I'll keep an eye on her while your gone," he nods, and Jack starts to take off. "Besides, I keep helping her, soon enough there will be a slip up, and I'll get myself a good show."

Jack turns back around, finding Sawyer grinning at him. He wants to hit the other man but instead just shakes his head, not taking Sawyer's bait. "You really want her to hate you too?" he asks before walking off.

~Lost~

The man with the beard, the one Sawyer had nicknamed Zeke the last time they were here, steps out into the clearing. "Nice to see you again, Jack."

"I have Henry. You want to see him again, you let Michael and Walt go."

"Let him go," Zeke calls, and seconds later Michael steps into the clearing to join them.

"What about Walt?" Jack asks, his stance unwavering at the site of Michael.

"You can have the boy back when we have what we want."

"Fine. Tomorrow night. We'll bring Henry and make the trade then."

Zeke laughs, "Henry? No, that's not who we want, Jack."

A look of confusion crosses Jack's face, unsure of who they could want besides Henry. Before he can ask, the Other speaks again, seeming to change the subject.

"I see you didn't bring your girl with you this time, Jack. We were very disappointed when the two of you didn't quite make it here yesterday."

The doctor frowns, "Kate? What's she got to do with this?"

"She's feisty, put up a good fight when she followed you out here last time. Some of my guys were very upset when we let her go."

"You want Kate in exchange for Walt? No way."

"Jack, he's my son," Michael pleads. "We have to do this."

"No. We will find another way to get Walt back," he says, not bothering to turn to look at the father.

Zeke laughs again, "Oh, it's not up to you. You left her on the beach with a broken arm; she won't be able to put up a struggle this time. In fact, my guys are probably snatching her up right about now. And after the torture you've put Henry through, we just might have to return the favor. You know how it goes, Jack - an eye for an eye."

"Your lying," Jack accuses, trying not to let the worry show on his face.

"Maybe I am. But are you really going to take that chance with your girlfriend, Jack?" The two men stare at each other. "Tomorrow night, Jack. We'll bring you the boy. Come alone and unarmed. And just maybe we'll let you say goodbye to her."

Before anyone can say another word, Jack takes off running, knowing that he is miles away from her but hoping that he can get there in time or at least run into the Others that are kidnapping her on his way back. He ignores the shouts of Sayid and Michael behind him.

~Lost~

Half asleep, Sawyer makes his way from his tent to the nearby forest so that he can relieve his bladder. On his way back, he stops dead in his tracks, his eyes opening wider in surprise. "What are you doin' out here, Freckles?" he ask, finding her seated in the airplane chair outside of his tent.

"Couldn't sleep."

Sawyer sighs, "The doc will be just fine, Kate."

"It's not that. I just can't get comfortable with the damn cast. And…" she trails off.

"What?"

"I'm probably just going crazy from lack of sleep. But I thought I heard someone moving around outside my tent a few minutes ago."

"So there may be someone lurking around camp and you decided to come sit out here alone?"

"Didn't want you to know I was afraid. And then left you use the bathroom just when I was about to go in."

He reaches down for her hand and pulls her up to stand in front of him, but when he tugs on her hand to lead her inside his tent, she doesn't budge. "We can pretend you're not scared, Freckles. But maybe there's something I can do to make you more comfortable."

She tries to pull her hand away from him, "Sawyer…"

"I ain't talking about that, Freckles. Just sleeping." He leans in to whisper in her ear in case there really is someone sneaking around the beach, "Besides, I have the guns."

She gives a short nod and then follows him into his tent. Once inside, he pulls two guns from his stash and holds one out to her. She shakes her head and holds up her cast, "I can't shoot left handed."

"Sure you can if someone attacks you," he insists. When she still doesn't take it, he shrugs, "Well, I'll leave it out for you in case you change your mind… You cold? I've got extra blankets, and I'm sure I've got a shirt here somewhere that will fit over that cast."

"I'm good."

"Okay then," he says, settling himself back onto his makeshift bed on the ground. When she continues to stand awkwardly by the entrance to the tent, he pats the ground next to him. "Lay down, Freckles."

After another moment of hesitation, she steps forward and lays down to the right of him, careful to keep her body from touching his.

"You comfortable?"

She sighs, "No, this is stupid, Sawyer. I can't sleep on my back."

"Then lay on your side."

"I can't lay on the cast."

"Your other side."

Kate turns towards him, laying on her left side. "The cast is too heavy to stay like this."

He slowly scoots over, his left hand coming up to grab the cast and lay her arm diagonally across his abdomen. She stiffens as his right arm comes to rest around her shoulders and pull her in so her head rests on his shoulder. "Relax, Kate. I ain't gonna do anything to you."

She remains stiff in his arms for several more minutes, and he is afraid that she is going to pull away and leave. But then he feels her relax into him as exhaustion takes over. She lifts her head up to look at his face, "Your hands stay put, Sawyer. I mean it. Or I will learn how to use that gun with my left hand, and at this range, I think my odds of hitting you are pretty good."

He smiles at her, "Understood."

She frowns, confused by his smile, "I just threatened to kill you. Why are you smiling at me?"

His smile widens into a grin, "What's not to smile about? I've got a pretty lady snuggled up against me."

She eyes him suspiciously, not sure what he is up to. When he doesn't go on, she settles her head back on his shoulder and closes her eyes, choosing to ignore his words.

He lets a full minute of silence pass before he opens his mouth again, "I was just wondering what the doc would say if he knew you were here in bed with - Ow, woman!"

She had snaked her good hand in between them to pinch his side. To his great surprise, she doesn't move away from him. She just continues to lay pressed against his side, her eyes closed, and simply says, "Jack's not here."

After several minutes, he feels her relax completely into him as sleep takes over her body. He, however, stays awake, unable to get her words out of his head and wondering if she would still be here with him if the doctor was at the beach camp.


	3. Chapter 3

As the sun starts to break the horizon, Jack rushes out onto the beach, heading straight for her tent. He doesn't stop to think as he pulls the tarp back, "Kate?" His heart starts pounding faster in his chest when he finds the tent empty. "Kate?" he calls out again, turning to scan the empty camp, everyone still sound asleep in their tents. His eyes land on Sawyer's tent, and he makes his way over to it, hoping that he knows where Kate is.

Sawyer is drawn from sleep by shouting outside in the camp. When he opens his eyes to find Kate still asleep half on top of him, he remembers why she had come to him last night and scrambles at his side for the gun. He lifts the gun up, clicking the safety off, just as the flap of his tent is lifted.

Jack freezes at the sight before him. While he is relieved to find her unharmed and still in the camp, it feels as though his heart has been ripped out of his chest.

"Doc?" Sawyer asks, lowering his gun.

"I… sorry," the doctor says, letting the tarp fall and heading off down the beach.

Sawyer scoots out from under her, surprised that she hadn't woken up with all of the commotion, and puts his pillow under her head. He hastily looks around the tent for something to prop her arm up on and spots the suitcase in the corner. He moves it closer to her and then lays her arm across it before heading out of the tent in search of the doctor.

"Jack!"

"It's okay, Sawyer. You don't have to explain," he says, his pace not slowing down.

When Sawyer finally catches up to him, he grabs the other man's shoulder to turn him around, "It's not what it looks like, Doc. Nothing happened."

"You don't have to lie to me. She's free to be with whoever she wants."

Sawyer looks away from him, "She mighta come to me last night, but I'm not the one she really wanted to be with, Jack."

Jack's face softens slightly at that news, and he looks down at his feet. "She's angry with me."

"So? You guys are mad at each other all the time, and you always make up. She'll come to her senses eventually."

Jack looks back towards camp, expecting to see her up and moving about. Or perhaps to find her approaching him.

"She's still asleep. And I ain't gonna tell her that you saw us together."

"Thanks."

The two men start walking back to camp, "So what did you come burstin' into my tent so early in the morning for anyway?"

"We found the Others again, offered to make a trade. But they weren't interested in Henry." Jack stops walking and pauses for a minute, staring off at her tent. "The guy with the beard, the one who took all of our guns last time, he said they wanted her, that there were guys at our camp grabbing her right as we were talking."

Sawyer frowns, "She said she heard something outside her tent last night."

Jack looks over at him, "Is that why she came to you last night?"

He nods, "You know her, she didn't want to admit to being scared. But, yeah, I think that's mostly why she came."

The doctor scratches his forehead, "And nothing happened between you two?"

"Just sleeping. Didn't even get a good night kiss from her. And if it makes you feel any better, she threatened to shoot me if I touched her."

"Of course she did," Jack laughs at that, then turns serious. "Look, Sawyer… I'm glad she came to you last night."

Sawyer nods, accepting the doctor's words even though he knows that he isn't glad that they were together, just that she is safe. "So you gonna tell her that they're after her?"

"No," Jack shakes his head. "You, me, and Sayid. No one else can know about this. One of us should be around her at all times."

"She's going to know somethin's up if we never leave her alone."

"Just keep your eyes on her when she's in the camp, and don't let her wander off on her own. We'll work something out for overnight."

"You got it," Sawyer says, heading back to his tent. She is still sleeping soundly when he enters. He carefully moves the suitcase and tries to slide back in next to her, wanting to savor the feel of her lying next to him, but she rolls onto her back and opens her eyes.

"Where'd you go?" she asks sleepily.

"Had to use the bathroom. I, uh… saw Jack out there. Told ya he would be alright."

"Guess I should head back to my tent," she says, standing up.

"You don't have to leave so soon, Freckles, unless you're afraid to be seen leavin' my tent," he stands beside her and grins. She looks away from him, answering his question. "Kate, what you said last night… would you have come to me if Jack was here?"

"I don't know," she whispers, looking back up at his face.

"Next time you need someone to snuggle with, let me know," he smiles, though he knows that he will never truly have her.

~Lost~

The day goes uneventfully, no sign of the Others anywhere near their camp. As the sun sets, Jack takes a seat next to her by the fire, "Hey."

"Hey," she glances at him before turning back to the fire. "I heard that you got Michael back from the Others."

He nods, "Yeah."

"So they just gave him up? Didn't want Henry back in return?"

"Yep."

"What about Walt?"

He shrugs, looking her in the eyes, "They said they're keeping him safe. Michael's ready to go back out and find them. I think they're just playing games with us at this point."

She nods, "Probably."

A couple minutes of silence pass before he speaks again, "So how is your tan coming?"

She avoids his gaze, keeping her eyes fixed on the flames. "I don't know, Jack. Why don't you ask Sayid and Sawyer?"

"Why would I -?"

"What are you hiding from me? They've both been watching me all day, and I suppose you're here to take the night watch."

"Kate…"

"Tell me what's going on."

"That guy that held a gun to you last time said that they would release Walt in exchange for you."

"Me? What do they want me for?" she turns to look at him.

He doesn't answer, though Zeke had made it pretty clear to him. "He said that some of them were over here last night to grab you."

She frowns, "So I didn't imagine those noises I heard outside of my tent? But why didn't they just grab me when I headed to Sawyer's? There was no one else around until Sawyer went to the bathroom and saw me."

"You were all alone outside your tent? How long?" he asks, now confused.

"Five minutes maybe."

"This doesn't make sense. They had the perfect opportunity to kidnap you, but they didn't take it."

"Unless I really did just imagine those noises and they were never here. Or came later when I wasn't in my own tent."

"Or they were just lying about the whole thing," he states, his eyes meeting hers again.

"Guess you don't have to watch me all night now."

"We could be wrong about all of this, Kate. Maybe they're coming tonight."

"I don't think so, Jack."

"It's not a chance I'm willing to take," he says, standing up. He offers her a hand to help her up, which she stares at for a few seconds before finally taking. Once they are both standing, he leads her over towards her tent. "I'll stand guard outside, make sure you're safe, and then I'm not invading your privacy."

"Are you really just going to believe that I am safe in the tent all night if you are stuck outside?"

"You planning to sneak out on me?"

"I'm just saying that you may as well keep watch from inside so you don't have to keep peaking in on me."

"You sure?" he asks as she holds the tarp open for him.

"I think I can trust you to keep your hands to yourself, Jack. Probably don't even have to threaten you like I did Sawyer."

"No, no threats necessary," he smiles and steps inside. After a moment, he decides to confess, though she didn't really seem to be hiding it from him anyway. "I, uh… know you were with Sawyer last night."

She nods and looks away, not saying anything.

"It's okay, Kate. I know you two are close."

"Nothing happened between us," she says quietly.

"You don't have to tell me. I trust you," he sits down in the corner of her tent. "You get some sleep. I'll make sure the Others stay away."

Kate watches him for a moment longer before settling down on her blanket. For the next twenty minutes she shifts around in bed, trying to get comfortable.

He had been trying not to stare at her, but at the sound of her moving again, he looks over to find her with her arm extended above her head, her neck bent at an awkward angle. "You okay? That doesn't look very comfortable."

She sighs, turning her head slightly up to look at him, "It's not. But there is no comfortable way to lay with this thing."

There is a beat of silence, then he asks, "So that's why you were cuddling with Sawyer?"

She doesn't answer, not sure herself why she had let Sawyer hold her last night. Jack moves over to her and lays on his side. She rolls onto her left side to face him, "I don't really know."

He reaches out for her arm and rests her cast on his waist, the weight of the cast supported by his body, careful to keep about of foot of space between the rest of their bodies, "That better?"

She nods and closes her eyes, "Thanks."

He watches her body relax, wishing he could reach out and touch her without scaring her away. As uncomfortable as being trapped in the net was, he can't forget the feel of her body against his.

"I'm sorry I kissed you," she whispers.

Her words sting for a second as he thinks she regrets kissing him, but then he realizes that if she really wasn't interested in him, she wouldn't be letting him this close to her now. It dawns on him that she must think that he isn't interested in more than friendship with her; he had pushed her away since the kiss in an effort to protect her, but from her view, it could certainly look like he didn't have feelings for her.

He carefully leans in and brushes his lips against hers, wanting to make sure she knows how he feels about her. When he pulls back, he watches her eyes slowly open and focus on his. "I'm not," he whispers back.

~Lost~

"We should just go talk to Henry," she argues with him as they eat breakfast outside her tent.

"He's not going to tell us anything, Kate. And I'm sure whatever he says will be a lie."

Sawyer comes out of the woods and walks up to them, "Good morning, Freckles."

She gives him a wave, "So how long are you guys going to be babysitting me?"

"She knows," Jack says in explanation, looking at the other man.

Sawyer nods, "So… either of you seen Ana Lucia lately? I think she took my gun."

"Why would she do that?" Jack asks, opening up a granola bar and handing it to Kate.

"I don't know, Doc," he says, dropping a mango in the sand next to her. "I was out in the woods gathering fruit when she came up to me. Asked me if she could borrow one of my guns. I told her no, but she must have seen the gun tucked in the back of my pants and lifted it off me at some point."

"She took the gun out of your pants without you noticing?" Kate asks somewhat skeptically.

"Well I noticed now," he says, not wanting to explain to them how she had really gotten it from him. He had been frustrated and somewhat upset since Kate had indicated her preference for Jack the other night and let Ana Lucia trick him. He turns to the brunette woman, "You can track. Can't you help me find her trail?"

"Why does it matter if she has a gun? It's not like she's going to shoot us," Jack argues.

"Didn't she already kill one of us?" Sawyer asks.

"It was an accident."

Kate stands, stopping the argument between the two men, "Fine, Sawyer. Where were you when she stole the gun?"

The three make their way into the jungle, heading towards where Sawyer had been gathering fruit not that long ago. "I don't really know where she stole it," he says, leading them around to where he had seen Ana Lucia head after their affair, careful to avoid the exact spot that they had been together in case Kate is as good at tracking as Locke.

"Wait a second," Kate squats down, seeming to find a trail. "These footsteps look the right size. I think she headed this way."

After five minutes of hiking, they run into Locke, who is making his way through the jungle on his crutches. "I was coming down to the beach to look for you, Jack. Michael says he's feeling better and wants to go back out to find Walt."

"You seen Ana Lucia?" Sawyer asks.

"Sure, just left her in the hatch with Michael. Said she's keep an eye on him and make sure he didn't take off on his own again."

"She have a gun?"

"Yeah, there was one tucked in her jeans."

"Damn!" Sawyer shakes his head at his stupidity.

Jack sighs, "Sawyer, you have all the other guns. Does it really matter if she's got one?"

He looks away in anger, then decides it best to just let it go. After all, if he confronts her, she'll probably tell them all that he slept with her and that's how she got the gun. "No, I guess it doesn't."

"I'll got talk with Michael and make a plan for getting Walt back. You guys head back to the beach."

"If we're going after Walt, we need guns, Jack," Locke points out. "Sawyer should come too."

"And we can talk to Henry while we're at the hatch," Kate says, no intention of heading back to the beach now.

Jack sighs, "Fine. But I'm telling you he's just going to lie."

The four of them head to the hatch, the journey slowed with Locke on crutches. When they get in sight of the hatch door, Michael bursts out, holding his upper arm, "He shot me."

"Who?" Jack asks.

"He's gone. He ran out," Michael says, and the doctor stops to check his wound.

Sawyer and Kate rush into the hatch, Locke following to check for Henry, and they are astonished to find Ana Lucia and Libby both shot.


	4. Chapter 4

"What are you doing?" Jack asks, watching as she tries to stick a twig down her cast.

"My arm itches," she frowns when the twig snaps. "Can't you take it off for just five minutes?"

"Kate, if it was a real cast, you wouldn't be able to take it off," he laughs. When he sees her eying another twig, he places a hand on her shoulder. "Why don't we take a walk? I've got something to talk to you about."

She studies him for a moment, wondering what is going on, before she stands and follows him into the woods. "So… you going to tell me what's going on?" she finally asks when they have been walking for ten minutes, and he hasn't said a word yet.

He shakes his head, "Got something to show you first. Might help with your arm."

"…Okay…" she says, still confused.

Five minutes later they stop beside a small pond of clear, fresh water, a waterfall pouring into it.

"Sawyer and I found a place like this once," she states, looking over at him.

"This same place?"

She shakes her head, "No, it was the other way from the beach. It's where we found the marshal's case."

"I found this place last week, haven't told anyone else about it. Thought we could use something good after the day we had yesterday."

"This is nice, Jack. Thanks," she smiles at him. "But… how exactly is this going to help the itching in my arm?"

"You'll see," he smiles, toeing off his shoes and pulling his shirt over his head. Then he crouches down beside her to untie her boots and pull them off her feet. He stands up and takes a step back, not sure what else she would want to take off in order to swim.

"You're not trying to drown me with this thing, right?" she gives a nervous smile to him.

"I think bamboo floats. And I won't let you drown, Kate."

She hesitates and bites her lip, then unbuttons her jeans and shimmies them down her legs. He keeps his eyes trained on her face until he sees her reach down for the hem of her white tank top. "A little help?" she says, looking over at him.

He takes a step closer and puts his hands on her waist, "You sure, Kate?"

Kate looks into his eyes before nodding, "It's no different than wearing a bikini."

As he pulls the shirt off of her, he keeps his eyes locked on hers, only looking away as he pulls the material over her cast. Then he drops her shirt into a pile with her pants and steps away, heading into the water. He swims out a little ways, giving her time to get into the water before he turns back around. He frowns when he doesn't see her and spins around in search of her, worried that the cast had weighed her down after all. Then he feels something grab his leg and pull his head under the water.

She is laughing at him when he surfaces. He blinks the water from his eyes and swims closer to her, his arm snaking around her waist to pull her back against his chest and then directs them over to the waterfall. "Jack!" she protests, realizing his intentions and squirming to try to get out of his grasp.

"Payback, Kate," he grins and then pushes her under the falls.

She swims out, stopping beside him to push her wet hair out of her face, "I didn't expect that of you, Jack."

"Well, I can't be the nice guy all the time," he smiles. "So how's your arm?"

"Doesn't itch anymore."

"I take it you haven't bathed since you broke your arm."

"I just used a washcloth to rinse off the other day. Why, you trying to tell me that I smell, Jack?" she teases.

"There are some towels around your arm under the cast. So next time it itches, soaking the towels might give you some relief."

"Thanks, Jack," she smiles shyly, placing her good hand on his chest.

Jack puts a hand on her waist to draw her in closer, and before he can make the first move, he finds her leaning in to touch her lips to his. He almost forgets to tread water and keep them afloat as they kiss, and after a minute, he pulls away, resting his cheek against hers. "Don't apologize this time."

"I won't," she smiles, then pushes off of him and swims back towards the shore where they left their clothes.

Once out of the water, he pulls his shirt over his head and slides his shoes on, sneaking glances up at her as she looks out over the water while he ties the laces.

"I, uh… can you pull my hair back for me?" she asks when he stands next to her, holding her good wrist out.

He looks down to find a hair tie around it, and he hesitates before sliding it over her hand, "I don't know how to do this, Kate."

"Just gather it up as best you can and put the tie around it," she shrugs. "Doesn't have to look that great. I'll get Claire to do something with it later. I just want it out of my face for now."

He steps around to her back and gathers up her curly locks as gently as he can before tying them back with the band. Then he moves around to her front and picks up her jeans, crouching in front of her so he can guide her legs in. Once her feet are both in, he pulls the material up her legs and over her hips. "That day in the woods shortly after the crash… the one when we were bringing water back to camp? I, uh… I was checking you out," he admits, intently focused on buttoning her jeans instead of looking up at her face.

"I know you were," she smiles and steps into him when he stands so that they are pressed together, his hands automatically wrapping around her back. "And I forgive you for breaking my arm."

"You forgive me? You're the one who didn't listen and picked up the doll," he teases back.

"You landed on my arm."

"I was trying not to crush you."

"So instead you just picked a part of me to crush."

"I didn't realize your arm was around me."

"There weren't a lot of other places for my arms to be."

He smiles and kisses her, "You just couldn't keep your hands off me."

"Well, it's a little easier to resist now that I only have one hand," she smirks and steps out of his arms to lean down and grab her shirt.

Jack takes it from her and guides her arms and head in, his fingers brushing against her sides as he pulls it down her body. He can't stop himself from brushing his lips across hers again. Then she slides her feet into her shoes, and he bends down to tie the laces. "That too tight?" he asks.

"No, they're good."

He takes her hand, and they head away from the pond. They walk for a few minutes before Kate turns to him, having realized that they are not following the same path back, "You do know how to get back to camp, right, Jack?"

"Yeah," he nods. "I was heading to the beach first, and then we can walk along the shore to our camp."

"Just making sure you're not going to get us lost out here."

He squeezes her hand, then pulls back some branches to reveal the ocean. He pulls her to a stop after a few dozen steps through the sand on the way back to camp. "Kate…" he looks out over the water, not letting go of her hand. "Michael wants to head out tomorrow to look for Walt."

"And you're going with him," she says quietly.

He frowns, looking over at her, "I don't know."

"You don't have to stay for me."

"Michael wants you to go with us."

"Me?" she looks at him in surprise.

"Yes."

"Jack, I swear I had nothing to do with this. I don't like sitting here doing nothing all day, but I know that I'm of no use out there right now."

"I think Michael is up to something."

"What makes you think that?" she steps in front of him.

"You saw him trying to convince Hurley to go with him to get revenge for Libby's death earlier; he did the same thing with Sawyer, convinced him to go and get revenge on them for blowing up the raft. And Sayid told me that he offered to go earlier, but Michael was insistent that he not come with us."

"Sayid is probably better equipped to go on this rescue mission that any of us; why wouldn't he would him to go?"

"I don't know."

"And how do you know that he wants me to come?"

"I think he was trying to feel me out earlier before the funeral, mentioned that it would be helpful to have a tracker with us and that with Locke incapacitated, you were probably our best bet."

"And you pointed out that I am also incapacitated at the moment?" she gestures to her cast.

He nods, "He said at least you weren't on crutches."

They stare at each other for several long seconds before she speaks again "Well, when he asks me to come along, I'll just tell him I'm not really up to it. If the broken arm isn't enough, I'll tell him they captured me last time I followed you out there and held me at gunpoint, and I just don't want to do that again."

"I don't know, Kate…"

"Wait… you think I should go, Jack?" she asks skeptically.

He shrugs, "I don't know what to do."

She hesitates for a moment, then says, "He was there when they told you that they would let Walt go in exchange for me, right? Maybe he thinks if I go, he can make that trade with them."

"I won't let it happen. And if that is his plan, why did he work so hard to convince Sawyer and Hurley to come along? What does he need them for?"

"Certainly does seem like some kind of trap," she agrees. "But what happens if we don't go? What if they threatened to kill Walt?"

"So you really think that we should go even if we are pretty sure it's not going to be good for us?"

"What if we could set up a trap of our own?" she asks, looking out over the ocean in thought.

~Lost~

Kate slowly regains consciousness, and the first thing she is aware of is the fact that her arm is bent. She adjusts her arm slightly, not wanting to alert anyone who is around to that fact that she is awake, and finds that it is still encased by something. Then she risks opening her eyes to check out her surroundings.

"Good, you're awake," a blonde woman says; she looks like she has been sitting there studying the captive for a while.

Kate takes in the small room filled with medical supplies and slowly sits up. Her eyes open wider in surprise when she realizes that they have changed her clothes and put a legitimate cast on her arm. "What did you do to me?"

"Your arm should be healed in a couple more weeks. Things heal much quicker on the island."

"Where are Jack and Sawyer?" she eyes the woman carefully. Last time she had seen her friends they had been tied up on a pier.

"You'll get to see them soon."

"Why did you take us?"

"You came to us, Kate. We didn't take you."

Kate looks down at the table next to her, eyeing the scalpel on it. Then she looks back up at the woman, trying to act normal. "Why me? Why us?"

"You'll see."

"Who are you people?"

"We live on this island."

Fed up with the lack of answers, Kate grabs the scalpel from the table and lunges for the woman. The blonde, however, anticipates her move and grabs her wrist, then sweeps her feet out from under her. The air is knocked out of her when she lands hard on her back on the floor.

"You're going to have to do better than that. And you should really be thanking us for fixing your arm."

There is a knock on the door, then it opens and the man who had held the gun to her head walks in sans beard. "We're ready for her, Juliet."

Juliet grabs her good arm and pulls her up from the floor, "Don't even think about trying to escape, or things will be much worse for all of you."

Kate frowns slightly at the threat and lets the other woman lead her out of the room and down the hall. The man walks on the other side of her, ready to grab her if necessary. Curious about what is going on and not wanting to get Jack and Sawyer hurt, she behaves during the walk until they stop outside a door.

"Your boyfriends are waiting, Kate," the unbearded man smiles at her and opens the door, and she is pushed inside by the blonde woman.

It takes her eyes a minute for her eyes to adjust to the bright lights, but she spots Jack and Sawyer both on their knees, their hands still tied behind their backs.

"Kate!" Jack yells when he sees her.

She heads towards them but is forced to stop when she nearly collides into a glass wall. The two men glance at each other, both relieved that she is okay, then watch as she presses her hand against the glass.

"You okay, Freckles?" Sawyer asks. She gives a short nod.

"What did they do to you, Kate?" the doctor asks, noting her new cast.

She shrugs, "I don't know. They hurt you?" They look at each other again before shaking their heads. Kate looks behind her, about to ask what is going on, and finds Juliet talking to another man, the one from the pier with the cuts and bruises on his face from their torture. They are whispering, but she catches the word 'pregnant' in their conversation and can't stop herself from speaking out. "I'm not pregnant."

"No, Kate, you aren't," the man, Ben, confirms.

She takes a step closer to them, "Why would you think that I am?"

"Those two guys in there were both really concerned about you."

"You clearly need better spies if you really thought I could be pregnant. And why do you care if I am? You planning to take my baby like you tried to take Claire's?"

"We need you to do us a favor, Kate," Ben says, moving closer over to her and nodding to Tom, who leaves the room. A minute later he appears on the other side of the glass with Jack and Sawyer.

She frowns, taking a step back from him as she waits for him to continue.

"You see, there's a bit of a problem with pregnant women on this island. The women get into their second trimester, and then their body attacks itself and they die."

"What does that have to do with me?" she glances at the three men in the other room behind her and finds that they are having their own conversation which she cannot hear.

"Juliet here is a fertility doctor, and she's been working on this for years. We finally think we have a solution to our problem. She already started the first step of the process when she was fixing up your arm and making sure you weren't already pregnant."

Kate laughs, "You really think I'm stupid enough to get knocked up now that you told me I'm a guinea pig and will probably die?"

Ben shrugs, "Well, either you do it willingly… or we start shooting your friends."

She turns around and finds the Other man with a gun drawn, his back to them as he looks on at Jack and Sawyer. And though she cannot hear them, she can clearly tell that they are yelling in protest on the other side of the glass.

~Lost~

"I need a volunteer."

"For what?" Sawyer spits out, looking up at the man in anger.

"It involves that lovely young lady on the other side of the glass. And don't deny it, boys - we've been watching you, and we know both of you have fallen for her."

"Don't you dare touch her," Jack glares at him.

"Actually, we want one of you to touch her. And I assure you it will be far more pleasant for her if it's one of you and not one of my guys," Tom grins at them, drawing his gun.

Jack and Sawyer turn to look at each, both disgusted at the man in front of them. Neither of them notice Kate turning back around to study them as they start yelling.

~Lost~

"Okay," Kate whispers, her back to Ben as she watches her two friends yelling in protest at the threat of being shot. "I'll do it."

A second later she feels a sharp pain in her side, and she falls to the ground, her body jerking violently of its own accord in response to the electrical shock that Ben had delivered.

 **A/N: Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. There will be a couple more chapters of this story, but I just wanted to warn you that the rating will likely change to M for the next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

"Kate!" Jack yells, seeing her fall to the ground behind Tom. "What did you do to her?"

"Make your choice," Tom demands.

"Go to hell!" Sawyer shouts.

"No. Absolutely not," Jack says resolutely.

Tom steps away from the glass and circles around the room to come up behind his prisoners. Ben and Juliet have lifted the semi-conscious Kate up and are now tying her to a chair. "You're making things difficult, fellas."

Ben meets eyes with Tom before turning back around and punching Kate in the jaw. Before she can recover, he throws another punch into her stomach. She tries to bend over to protect herself but can't with the way she is tied.

"You bastards," Sawyer struggles with his bindings, trying to get free.

"Leave her alone. What do you want from us?"

"We want you to choose. Who wants to be the father of her child?" Tom asks as Ben shocks Kate with the taser again.

Sawyer stops struggling and turns to look at Jack. The doctor frowns at seeing the change in Sawyer's face, "No, don't you dare, Sawyer."

"I can't watch them beat her up, Doc," he says, turning away from Jack to look at Kate and Ben in the next room. "You want someone to rape her? I'll do it."

Kate looks up at him from the other room, shock evident on her face, and the two men quickly realize that she had been unable to hear their conversation up until Sawyer's last statement.

~Lost~

"Where's Kate?" he demands, suddenly stopping. After his volunteering, they had watched as Juliet injected Kate in the arm with something, and she had immediately lost consciousness. He had been pulled up roughly and led out of the room, separated from Jack, and they were now walking through the woods.

"We're letting you go home, James. Well, back to your camp anyway," Ben says, stopping right in front of him.

"What? Why? I though you wanted me to get her pregnant for your stupid studies," Sawyer frowns in confusion.

"No, James, we just wanted to make her hate you."

"What if Jack had been the one to give in?"

Ben shrugs, "We just wanted her to hate one of you."

"Where is she? I ain't going back to camp without her."

"Yes, you will. Because we found your other friends, the ones on the boat. You will follow this path to where my people are holding them, and all four of you will get back on that boat and go to your camp."

"What's stopping us from coming back here to kill all of you?" Sawyer glares at the two men before him.

"If we see you coming back here for them or even hear of you plotting to do so, my guys will be lined up waiting for a turn with her."

The blonde man looks down, trying to fight the urge to strangle the man in front of him for threatening her. "What are you going to do to them?"

Ben smiles, "I can't tell you that. But they'll be fine, James, just so long as you and your friends behave. And maybe one day soon you'll get to see her again. Not that she's going to want to see you after what you said." Then he unties Sawyer's bonds and shoves him down the path to continue on his way back to camp.

~Lost~

Jack slowly opens his eyes, then immediately closes them in protest of the brightness of the sun. He groans, wondering what had happened to him, and opens his eyes again. He is surprised to find himself in the middle of the jungle and immediately sits up, looking around him. When he turns to his right, he sees her lying beside him, still unconscious. He reaches out to shake her shoulder, but the instant his hand makes contact with her skin, his mind flashes to the two of them kissing, and he jumps away from her.

She shifts, her head turning to the side, but her eyes remain closed. Her arm in the cast rests on her stomach.

He hesitates and then place his hand over the fingers sticking out of her cast. "Kate?" he asks quietly, not wanting to startle her.

Kate entangles her fingers with his as best she can with the cast on and opens her eyes to find him watching her. "Where are we?"

"In the woods somewhere."

She rises to a seated position, "What happened to us?"

He withdrawals his hand from her and stands, needing to get some space. The last thing he remembers is the Others trying to get him or Sawyer to hurt her. Other than that flash of memory of making out with her, he's got nothing else to go off of, and he can't mention it to her now for fear of finding out that he had been forced to do something that was not consensual. He finally looks back down at her, "I don't know."

She rubs her hand over her face, brushing her hair behind her ear. "I remember them telling me that they wanted me to get pregnant, that all the pregnant women on the island die, and they wanted me to be their experiment to see if they've fixed it. And they threatened to shoot you guys if I didn't agree. And then… Sawyer…" she looks down at her hands, unsure what to say now.

Jack squats down next to her, "He wanted them to stop hurting you, Kate."

She places her hand against her lower abdomen, suddenly unsure of her body. "Jack…?" she looks up at him, and he can see the fear in her eyes.

"Do you… is there anything else you remember?" he asks, his own memory also blank after Sawyer was hauled out of the room. Except for the kiss, which he desperately hopes is not a true memory. She thinks for a moment and then slowly shakes her head. He sighs, "Me either."

She moves to stand up, and he follows suit. "Do you think we're really free? Or is this just some game they're playing with us?"

He shrugs, "I don't know. Which way do you think we should go?"

She slowly turns in a circle, but there is no clear sign of a trail for them to follow through the woods. With a shrug, she steps forward, arbitrarily picking a direction and starting their journey.

"So… they gave you a proper cast?" Jack asks, not sure what else to talk about.

"Yeah… That blonde woman did it I think. She was some kind of fertility doctor." She shudders, "Who knows what else she did to me?"

"How long you think we've been gone?"

"No clue."

They keep walking in silence for another mile before she stops, coming to a path that she recognizes. "Jack… this is the way we took to get to the caves. I think our camp is just down that way," she points off to the left.

"We're really home?" he asks.

She smiles, turning to step closer to him. "Yes… I think we are really free," she wraps her arm around his neck and kisses him.

He pulls back somewhat abruptly, another flash having played in his head; in this one, her face is turned away from him, her eyes tightly closed, and he has her arms pinned above her head.

"What's wrong?" she asks with a frown.

"Nothing. I just… I can't believe they just let us go," he lies, though he is confused by the fact that they were simply let go, and takes her hand to lead her out onto the beach.

Everyone comes running up to hug them, excited to see that they are still alive. Jack gets caught up in greeting everyone and is very surprised to learn that they had been gone for just over a week from Sayid. Out of the corner of his eye, he catches a glimpse of Sawyer stepping up to her, and he angles himself towards them to get a better view. She stiffens as Sawyer puts his arms around her; he has no idea if Sawyer actually did anything to her, but he wants to punch him for making her feel unsafe.

Seeming to sense her reluctance to see him, Sawyer pulls away and approaches the doctor, holding out a hand to shake, "I'm glad your okay, Doc."

"Sawyer," Jack nods and takes the hand extended to him, but the hatred can clearly be seen in his eyes.

Sawyer pulls him into a half hug, whispering in his ear, "I swear I didn't touch her. You've got to get her to talk to me."

The doctor remains stoic, not sure whether or not to believe the other man. As the crowd around them disperses, he watches Kate head to her tent.

~Lost~

"Can I talk to you, Freckles?" Sawyer stops in front of the two women.

Kate glances back at Claire, who is just finishing braiding the brunette's hair. Claire grins, looking from Kate to Sawyer and completely misreading the tension between them. "You're all set, Kate. Let me know if you need any other help," the blonde takes off, heading back to her own tent where Charlie and Aaron are waiting for her.

"What do you want, Sawyer?" Kate asks, not budging from her seated position. He takes a seat beside her, a little too close for her comfort, and she looks around the beach for help. There are few people out in the midday heat, and anyone who cared to watch them wouldn't suspect anything if they saw the two together.

"Kate, I didn't hurt you."

She glares at him, "You're really going to try to deny it?"

He looks down at his hands, "I know you heard what I said. And you have absolutely no reason to believe me, but I swear that I never touched you. They knocked you out with something, and then they led me out into the woods and just let me go."

"Why would they make you say that you would rape me and then just let you go?"

"Because they wanted you to hate me," he looks over into her eyes. "And I understand why you do."

She looks away, her gaze turning out over the ocean. "How long have you been back?"

"Six days. They only had me for one, and then we spent another sailing back here." She doesn't respond. "They hurt you?"

She turns back to look at him, "I don't know."

"I'm so sorry, Freckles," he slowly reaches out to place his hand over hers and squeezes it.

She doesn't pull away, but she also makes no move to accept his apology.

"I'd like to think that if it came down to it, I wouldn't have actually done it. But I know that I would have if it meant they stopped hurting you, even though it meant I became the one that was hurting you," he admits. A minute passes before he continues. "I saw the look on Jack's face. He was about to give in too, and I couldn't let him. It's better that you hate me instead of him."

"I don't -"

"Yes, you do. You don't have to lie to me, Kate."

"Maybe I'm not pregnant," Kate says quietly, looking down at his hand covering hers.

He shrugs, "You not being pregnant doesn't mean I didn't do it."

"I want to believe you, Sawyer. And not being pregnant might make it a little bit easier to do so."

Sawyer squeezes her hand again and tries to lighten the mood, "Well, if you are pregnant, I demand a paternity test. You got no clue what happened to you over there so it could be anyone's child."

A slight smile crosses her face at his antics, and he smirks, happy to see that he is breaking through her shell. When she doesn't respond, he stands. He shifts the sand in front of his shoes for a moment, hesitating. "Freckles… I found another pregnancy test in the wreckage of the plane. It's yours if you want it."

She bites her lip, then shakes her head, "I'm not ready to know yet."

~Lost~

The ping pong ball flies past Jack as he is distracted by Kate exiting her tent. Over the ten days since they had gotten back, she had been distancing herself from almost everyone, including him. He watches her quickly look around camp and then head into the woods. "I, uh… sorry, guys, I've got to go," he says, handing the paddle to Hurley so he can play with Charlie.

He jogs over to where he saw her enter the woods but she is already gone, "Kate?" There is only one clear path through the woods, and he decides to follow it, not seeing any obvious signs that she had diverged from it.

Fifteen minutes later he is approaching the caves. She is seated near the stream, her back to him. "Kate?" he asks softly as he comes up behind her, trying not to startle her.

At the sound of his voice, she jumps and turns around, quickly wiping at her eyes, "What are you doing here, Jack?"

"I was going to ask you the same thing."

Neither one of them speaks for several long minutes. Finally, she opens up to him, fresh tears falling from her eyes, "I… I'm late."

He takes a seat beside her and wraps an arm around her shoulders, drawing her in to lean against him, "Kate… I'm so sorry."

She tries to fight it at first but eventually she ends up breaking down, her tears soaking his shirt. When she seems to have calmed down, he brushes her hair out of her face. After a few more minutes, she pulls away and mumbles, "Sorry."

"I don't want to pry, Kate, but… how late are you?"

She rubs at her eyes, "Four or five days I think."

He looks away from her, kind of embarrassed to be talking to her about this, "And you're usually… regular?"

She shrugs, "Most of the time."

"Maybe it's just stress. You've been through a lot the past few weeks."

She draws her knees up to her chest and wraps her arms around them. "What if Sawyer is lying to me? What if he really did…? I don't know what to believe anymore, Jack."

Jack leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees as he internally debates whether he should come clean about what may be memories from their time in captivity. "Do you… Is there anything at all that you remember?"

"No. I remember Sawyer's words… and then there's just nothing until you woke me up in the woods," she shakes her head. Suddenly she turns to face him, "Why? Do you remember something, Jack?"

He seriously contemplates telling her that he doesn't remember anything either. But he has to tell her the truth; lying had been the crux of all of the issues in their relationship. And things will be much worse if it somehow comes out later. "Yes, I think I do."

"What is it?"

"It's just flashes, nothing more than a couple seconds."

"What makes you think it's real?"

"I kind of hope it's not real."

She frowns at that, "Why? What is it that you remember?"

"Us. Kissing. And… more than that, I think," he says, watching the water flow down the stream. "Kate… what if I'm the one who got you pregnant? What if they got me to do it instead of Sawyer?"


	6. Chapter 6

He doesn't see her for three days. He asks around camp, and no one else has seen her during those days either. She had taken off at the caves, running through the jungle, and he had been unable to keep up with her; it had taken him a long time to even get back to the caves. He wants to organize a search party, but he doesn't know where to even begin looking for her. He goes back to the caves every day, hoping that she would return. But he doesn't even know what he will say to her when he sees her again; the devastation on her face had been clear to him, and it will never be erased from his mind.

On the third day Sawyer insists on coming with him, his worry over her disappearance clear on his face. So the two men sit in the caves and wait. "Why'd she leave, Doc?" Sawyer finally asks.

"She thought she was pregnant."

"Explains why she wouldn't want to see me. But why'd she leave you too?"

Jack sighs, "There was a memory, just snippets of things… But I think that I was the one that caused this."

"And you told her that? I was the perfect scapegoat, Jack. You should have just let her think it was me."

"I can't lie to her about something like this, Sawyer. What would that mean for our relationship?"

"Well the Others got what they wanted - now she hates both of us," the blonde man shakes his head. "And if she really is pregnant, I bet neither one of us is the father. Those bastards."

"I'm sick of these mind games," Jack sighs and lays back on the rocks.

"Isn't there something you can do, Doc? Can't you… get rid of it somehow?"

"No, I can't do anything here without putting her at risk too. And getting rid of it isn't going to make her stop hating us."

Silence passes between them again, and Sawyer eventually lays down as well. Soon both men are asleep.

Hours later Sawyer slowly blinks awake. He is startled to find her standing between them, "Freckles? Doc, wake up."

Jack bolts upright and is also shocked to see her standing there. "Kate?"

Neither man moves or speaks, afraid of scaring her off again. She looks from one to the other, then focuses on the ground at her feet. "I'm not pregnant," she finally says.

"You sure?" Sawyer asks.

She nods, "Yeah, pretty sure."

"You okay? They take you again?" Jack asks, trying desperately to hold himself back from hugging her.

"No. Haven't seen anyone since I left here. And I remember all of it."

"I'm glad you're okay. And that you're not…"

She nods, still looking at the ground, "Me too."

"Well… Gonna be dark soon. Should we head back to the beach?" Sawyer asks, tension thick in the air between the three of them. He stands and then starts towards the beach; Jack motions for Kate to follow, and he brings up the rear.

Jack watches the broken way she carries herself as they walk back to camp, and it suddenly hits him that this was their goal all along. They hadn't wanted her to get pregnant and be their experiment - they had wanted to break her. And in breaking her, they had also succeeded in breaking him and Sawyer. It had all just been a con. And there is nothing he can do to make this right.

 **~Lost~**

Days later Kate sits by the pond that they had swam in, her pant legs pulled up to her knees so that she could put her legs in the water. A branch breaks behind her, and she whips around, her eyes searching for the intruder.

Jack holds his hands up as he walks out from the trees, "Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"You following me?" she asks, pulling her legs out of the water and up to her chest.

He takes in her guarded position and wishes there was something he could say to fix this mess. "No. Just thought a swim would be nice. I didn't expect to find you here."

When she doesn't say anything, he cautiously comes to sit beside her, careful to leave space between them, and pulls his own shoes and socks off before slipping his feet in the water.

She remains tense beside him, "I should go."

"Stay, Kate. Please." After a moment's hesitation, she slowly lowers her legs back into the water. "Were you going to swim? Because I can leave," he asks, knowing that there is no way they will be swimming together as they had before.

She shakes her head, "I don't think this cast is waterproof."

They sit side by side, staring out at the waterfall before them. He debates what he should do next, missing the closeness that they had had before the Others had kidnapped them. And though he still doesn't know if he did anything wrong, he finally decides that apologizing and showing her that she can still trust him is the only thing he can do right now. "I'm sorry, Kate."

She glances over at him, then looks down at the water again. "Why did you even tell me? You don't know if what you were remembering was real or the context of it. And I remember absolutely nothing."

"I had to tell you, Kate. What if you had been pregnant and that baby was mine? What if they have proof of what I did to you and they showed it to you?" he asks. "It was hard for me to tell you, and I'm sure it was even harder for you to hear. But I have to believe that my honesty with you gives us a chance at getting through this. If you found out some other way… I have no doubt you would never trust me again."

She looks at him again, the hurt clear on her face, "You told me you may have raped me, Jack. How am I supposed to trust you?"

"Because you knew me for almost two months before this happened. You have to know that I never would have willingly done this to you. I wouldn't have done this unless they were threatening to do worse things to you."

"And you get to be the judge of what is worse? Being betrayed by someone you trust is a hundred times worse than anything they could have done to me."

He closes his eyes, "Kate…"

"Doesn't matter, Jack. What you are remembering may have never even happened. Or maybe I agreed to it."

"No, we were being held hostage. Even if you did want me that way, you never would have agreed in that situation."

Tentatively she places her hand on his arm, "Why are you working so hard to make yourself out to be the bad guy in this, Jack?"

His brown eyes meet her green ones, "Because I'd rather think the worst of myself and find out I'm wrong than believe that I could never have done this and find out that I truly am the bad guy."

"You were a perfect gentleman last time we were here. Except maybe when you pushed me into the waterfall. If something more had happened that day… I wouldn't have stopped it," she admits with a small smile. Then she squeezes his arm and looks back at the water. "I believe you, Jack. If you did this, you did it because you thought it would protect me. You're not a bad guy."

He studies her, not sure how she had flipped from hating him to defending him in just minutes. But that still didn't mean they were back to normal. "You want to walk back to camp together?"

"What about your swim?"

He shakes his head, "It's not as much fun alone."

"I can't, Jack, not right now. But… maybe we could come back some time."

He nods, surprised at her for even thinking of coming back here with him. "Yeah… okay."

They both put their shoes back on and roll their pant legs down, him resisting the urge to help her. With her arm slightly more mobile in this cast, she is able to do a lot more on her own. Then they start making their way back to the beach, walking side by side.

Suddenly they hear a click, and he lunges for her, thinking that they were going to be shot at, but before they know it they are suspended in the air again, caught in another net.

"Damn it," he curses. Her hands are on his chest, and his arms are wrapped around her. After a moment, he is surprised to find that she isn't tense against him, at least no more tense than she was last time they were stuck like this. "I, uh… I don't have a gun this time."

"I have a knife," she says after a moment.

"Can you get it?"

She pulls back slightly to look up at him, "Back pocket. My left."

"You sure?' he meets her eyes. She nods. He slowly eases his right hand down her back, his hand stopping when he reaches the top of her jeans. "Kate… I don't have to do this."

"We're going to be stuck here until someone finds us if you don't."

After another moment of hesitation, he slides his hand down and slips his fingers into her pocket. A few seconds later he pulls out the pocket knife. Then he reaches up to start cutting through the rope holding the net. "I'll try not to land on you this time."

Two minutes later the rope breaks, and he lands flat on his back, her on top of him. He pants for a minute, trying to catch his breath after having the wind knocked out of him. "You alright?"

She lifts up slightly to meet his eyes. They stare at each other for almost a full minute before she leans in press her lips against his. It only lasts a few seconds, and then she pulls back to whisper, "I forgive you, Jack."

Jack doesn't know what to say to this and just continues to look up at her. She kisses him again and then moves off of him, untangling herself from the net. When she offers him a hand to help him sit up, he just stares at her. "Why, Kate? How can you forgive me so easily?"

Kate settles back on her knees at his side, looking down at him. "I killed my stepfather. That's why the marshal was after me. He would beat her, sometimes me too. And when I told her what I did, she turned me in, said she had loved him and that I was selfish in killing him. She could never acknowledge that I did it to protect her." She turns her face away from him to look at the trees around them, and his hand on hers draws her back to him. "If I can't see why you did what you did - if you even did anything in the first place - then I'm just like her. And I don't what to have anything to do with her."

 **~Lost~**

"Do you trust me?"

She eyes the large knife in his hand for a moment and then nods.

"If you feel any pain at all, let me know," Jack positions her arm on the ping pong table and presses the knife against the back of her cast. After a brief pause, he begins sawing through it.

They both breathe a sigh of relief when he has gotten through the outer layer without piercing her skin. Then he picks up the scissors, gently easing the lower blade between the gauze and her skin and starting to cut. Once he gets through that layer, he tries to pry open the cast, but he is unable to get it opened wide enough for her arm to come out. "I have to cut the other side too, Kate," he flips her arm over on the table, the more vulnerable underside of her arm now upwards.

"Go ahead, Jack."

"If the knife slips…"

"It'll be okay, Jack. Just take it off."

"Kate, if it isn't healed yet, you're going to need another bamboo cast."

"It's been six weeks. I just want this thing off."

He smiles at her, "I know you do."

"You won't hurt me," she assures him.

Three minutes later she is smiling down at her bare arm. Jack runs his hands along her forearm, looking for any sign that she is not fully healed yet. When he lets go, she bends her elbow and circles her wrist. "Any pain?"

She shakes her head, "No, it feels completely fine."

He smiles, "Well, everything looks okay. I would like an x-ray to make sure, but we don't have access to that here. So… just be careful. And if anything feels weird, let me know."

"Yes, Doctor," she smirks at him.

"So what are you going to do first now that you are a free woman?"

Kate looks around camp, thinking for a moment before she turns back to him with a grin, "Want to go gather fruit?"

"Climbing trees isn't really what I had in mind when I said be careful, Kate."

"Relax, Jack. I haven't fallen out of one since I was five. I will be fine," she tosses her back pack over her shoulder, grabs his arm, and heads off into the woods with him.

Twenty minutes later she is high up in one of the trees and tossing papayas down to him. His heart skips a beat when he sees her climbing back down, afraid she will slip. "I've missed this," she says when her feet hit the ground, looking up at the tree she had just been in.

He smiles, "I'm glad you're doing okay, Kate."

"Better than okay now," she wraps her arms around his neck and kisses him. Minutes later he has backed her against the tree trunk, holding her wrists above his head as his lips trail from her mouth and down her neck, her head turned to the side to allow him better access and her eyes closed. It suddenly hits him, and he takes a step back, staring at her.

"What's wrong?" she frowns. "Jack, you can't still be blaming yourself."

He takes her hand is his, "I know you won't believe me, but those memories I was having… they were of just now. This is what I saw before. In those memories, I never realized your arm wasn't in a cast."

She studies him, "You were seeing the future?"

"I… I don't know."

Kate leans up to kiss him again, "If what you are remembering is now, then that means you didn't hurt me before."

"Yeah… maybe," he agrees, still unsure what is going on.

"Jack…"

"Kate, we can't be doing this. You heard what they said about pregnant women on the island. I won't risk it."

"Yeah," she nods, reluctantly stepping back from him.

As she starts to walk away, he reaches out for her arm, pushing her back against the tree and brushing his lips over hers to show her how much he does want her. Several minutes later when they have to stop for air, he whispers, "I am going to get us off of this island."

 **A/N: Thank you all for reading and reviewing!**


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